Go With Your Heart: Create Justice Solutions the Open-Source Way

We love our media. Take away our media? No way. Alas, more media leads to both more ideas, and more arguing and conflict. And, all that arguing can get pretty chaotic. So if you’re in a position of influence for creating justice solutions, how do you address all that complexity and chaos? Go with your heart. Believe in our collective connection, intelligence and compassion. Go the open-source way.

The open-source way

It takes a system to change a system. I’ll reframe that to it takes an open-sourced approach to create justice solutions that are large scale, collaborative , distributive, and in-sync with ideals of democracy. Basically, that’s the message in this recently posted Internet and Society thought leader Clay Shirky’s TED talk about “How the Internet will (one day) Transform Government”. It’s an inspiring talk, masterfully told. Here’s the video of that talk: (Video not displaying? click here)

Shirky shows how the open-source programming world can teach us a thing or two about democracy and justice. The open-source way balances increased arguing and conflict with more and better resolution opportunities.

Four of my takeaways from Clay’s talk are:

look to the open-source spirit and approach as your justice guide (I’ve been a fan of the open source approach for a while, read some of the principles of open source in Gift the Open Source spirit to your next collaboration)

open-source is cooperation without coordination; forget top-down, let go of control

open source offers an appropriate design approach for justice solutions

open source is collective intelligence, and

As a bonus, I was so impressed with Shirky’s storytelling skills. Watch and learn, presenters and speakers.

The bottom-line for me is that open-source speaks to my heart.

Looking for more justice innovation ideas?

I recommend Cyberweek 2012 next week, October 29 thru November 2; the annual showcase for online Alterative Dispute Resolution ideas, practices and innovators. It’s coordinated by Creighton University’s Werner Institute. I’ve learned stuff and made great connections through it, in past years.

Another group to follow is Innovating Justice. This UK organization annually crowdsource, with rewards offered, for justice innovation ideas and practices.

Of course, social media is another place to discover and connect to open source ideas and solutions. Approach it with intention, and you’ll make the connections.

What does your heart tell you to do when it comes to justice innovation?